Review of Canada’s Compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

“The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network submits this briefing to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in advance of its review of the periodic report of Canada, held during its 93rd session from July 31 to August 25, 2017.

“[T]he Legal Network has focused this briefing on its concerns about Canada’s implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) as they relate to

the criminalization of people who use drugs, resulting in racialized communities being disproportionately charged, prosecuted and incarcerated, and depriving them of their rights to equal treatment in the justice system, to security of the person, and to health and social services; and

the failure to provide equivalent access to health services in prisons, including key harm reduction measures, where Indigenous and Black people are disproportionately represented, violating their rights to health and social services, security of the person, equality and non-discrimination.”